


Always

by SOABA



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers Feels, Bucky Is There When Steve Wakes Up From His 70 Year Nap, Bucky Was Never Captured By Hydra, Established Relationship, Fix-It, Fluff, Howard is alive, Hydra is gone, Light Angst, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:55:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28226490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SOABA/pseuds/SOABA
Summary: The first thing Steve became conscious of was the song.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Comments: 7
Kudos: 67





	Always

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MurphyAT](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MurphyAT/gifts).



> This story is a one-shot that was written for the Star-Spangled Secret Santa 2020, as a gift for MurphyAT. The song “Always” was written by Irving Berlin for his wife in 1925 as a wedding gift. 
> 
> Merry Christmas, everyone!

**_Always_ **

The first thing Steve became conscious of was the song.

“ _I’ll be loving you, always, with a love that’s true, always. When the things you’ve planned, need a helping hand, I will understand, always. Always. Days may not be fair, always. That’s when I’ll be there, always. Not just for an hour, not just for a day, not just for a year, but always…_ ”

The singing trailed off as Steve shifted toward the source of it, much to his consternation – Irving Berlin’s love ballad had been his favorite for years and he had never liked the moment when the song’s rendition, whether on the radio or live, would be completed. It was then that he realized a warm hand was cupping the side of his face, and only a moment later a pair of intimately familiar lips pressed against his own for several blissful seconds.

“Hey, Sleeping Beauty,” the voice that Steve loved most in all the world crooned, “It’s time for you to wake up.”

“Buck,” Steve breathed out, forcing his eyes open.

Bucky was there, hovering over him like a miracle, haloed by a gentle light – an angelic aureole that slowly transposed into dozens of flickering candles as Steve’s vision cleared with every blink that he took. Unabashed joy had softened Bucky’s countenance to a considerable extent, making him look younger than last Steve had known him to be, and there was so much tenderness and unbridled affection present in his expression that a part of Steve would have been completely content to bask in that single moment forever.

Though he doubted that he had deserved to do so, surely, he had managed to find Heaven.

“There’s my best guy,” Bucky greeted in a soft, wonder-filled tone. “I’ve missed you so much, Stevie.”

Steve did not deliberately decide to move, but from one instant to the next he had gone from lying resupine on a curiously soft bed to sitting upright and was wrapping his arms around Bucky as tightly as he dared, as if the other man would vanish if Steve were not holding on to him… as if Bucky would fall away forever.

“Bucky,” Steve’s voice broke, memory crashing over him like the most merciless of tidal waves. He shuddered hard as the images of Bucky plummeting to his death, Steve watching helplessly, assaulted him, “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”

Bucky sighed and returned the hug with equal verve, his breath warming the side of Steve’s face, “You should be. Crashing a plane into the god-damned Arctic Region is right up there with jumping onto a fucking grenade in terms of stupid, Pal – I really ought to get you a leash.”

“That… that’s not what I meant, Buck,” Steve muttered morosely against Bucky’s shoulder.

“I know, Sweetheart.” Bucky kissed Steve’s temple before saying, “It’s not your fault I fell.”

“The hell it’s not,” Steve protested automatically. “All the strength I have, and I couldn’t save you. You needed me and I _failed_ you, Bucky.”

“Stephen Grant Rogers, you look at me right now,” Bucky ordered in the tone he had perfected as an army sergeant, and then, once Steve had managed to comply, he stated firmly, “You have _never_ , not once since the day we met, failed me.”

“I got you killed,” Steve insisted, stubborn as he ever was.

Surprise and then understanding gentled Bucky’s features once more, “I’m not dead, Stevie. Neither are you, for that matter, though certainly not for a lack of trying on your part.”

“I don’t…” Steve frowned in confusion because, surely, they both _had_ to be dead. “You fell into the ravine, Buck, hundreds of feet.”

“Over a thousand feet, actually, into the iced over Danube River,” Bucky said mildly. “But I survived.”

That was impossible, “How could you have… _Zola_.”

“Yeah,” Bucky confirmed. “My serum’s not quite as potent as yours is, Pal, but it works well enough.”

“Fuck,” Steve murmured, both furious that Bucky was experimented on and ridiculously grateful to have him, “We’re alive?”

“We are,” Bucky assured. He hesitated for a moment, “We spent a little while frozen, though, before Howard managed to locate us.”

“Frozen?”

Bucky nodded, “The cold temperatures of the Alps and the Arctic put us both into a kind of stasis. Everyone though we were dead until Stark’s son accidentally found me… five years ago.”

“I’ve been asleep for _five years_?” Steve demanded to know.

“You’ve been asleep for fifty-two years, actually,” Bucky revealed carefully, cushioning the punch of the statement by massaging Steve’s back in a soothing, circular motion with one hand while his other rested against the nape of Steve’s neck. “It’s nineteen ninety-seven.”

Shock coursed through Steve, “Fifty-two years.”

“You okay, Stevie?”

“I’m just… did we win? The war, I mean, did we win it?”

“We did,” Bucky reassured him. “Germany surrendered in the May of ’45 and Japan did the same that September. I’m sure you’ll be thrilled to know that you were basically deified in the aftermath.”

Steve grimaced at that and then, “Our men, the Commandos, are they okay? Howard, and Peggy, and Colonel Phillips, how are they? Shit, if it’s been fifty-two years…”

There was every chance one or more of them was gone.

“They’re alright. I promise, they’re all alright. A bit older that you remember, yeah, but alright,” Bucky told him, easing Steve’s heart at once. “They’ve been waiting kinda impatiently for you to wake up a few rooms over. We’re in Stark’s private hospital – that’s how come there’s candles instead of the horrible fluorescents they like to use nowadays. We’re in Brooklyn, a dozen blocks from our old brownstone.”

“Are there flying cars?” Steve wondered.

Bucky laughed, a bright, beautiful sound that Steve had not realized he had been aching to hear, “I’ve got one, actually, courtesy of Howard – it was a ‘ _thank fuck you’re not dead_ ’ gift – but they’re not real common yet. We did send a man to the moon, though.”

“No kidding?”

“The future’s pretty great,” Bucky declared, “Two fellas can even get hitched if they want to, now.”

It took a minute to process _that_ , but once Steve had, “Marry me?”

“Of course, I’ll marry you, Stevie,” Bucky replied, eyes shimmering.

Steve kissed him, time stopping briefly as raw emotion roiled within his soul. It was profound relief, and glorious hope, and the fiercest of devotions, colliding to create one perfect moment, “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Bucky kissed him less deeply, once, twice, and then for a third time. An enthusiastic knocking at the door to the hospital room drew their attention, albeit reluctantly, to the existence of the outside world, “I do believe our friends’ collective patience has run out. You ready to see them?”

“You’ll be here, with me?”

“Always.”

**THE END**

_Everything went wrong_  
_And the whole day long_  
_I'd feel so blue_  
_For the longest while_  
_I'd forget to smile_  
_Then I met you_  
_Now that my blue days have passed_  
_Now that I've found you at last -_  
  
_I'll be loving you Always_  
_With a love that's true Always_  
_When the things you've planned_  
_Need a helping hand_  
_I will understand Always_  
  
_Always_  
  
_Days may not be fair Always_  
_That's when I'll be there Always_  
_Not for just an hour_  
_Not for just a day_  
_Not for just a year_  
_But Always_

_I'll be loving you, oh Always_

_With a love that's true Always_  
_When the things you've planned_  
_Need a helping hand_  
_I will understand Always_  
  
_Always_  
  
_Days may not be fair Always_  
_That's when I'll be there Always_  
_Not for just an hour_  
_Not for just a day_  
_Not for just a year_  
_But Always_  
  
_Not for just an hour_  
_Not for just a day_  
_Not for just a year_  
_But Always_

**Author's Note:**

> In the United States, any musical works published in 1925 or earlier, in addition to those voluntarily placed in public domain, exist in the public domain. Posting the lyrics to Irving Berlin's song DOES NOT violate AO3's terms of service as it is, in fact, part of the public domain.


End file.
